Todays Life

Romans 5: 1-5  (NLT)

Faith Brings Joy

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Dialouge: Our Faith in Jesus Christ brings us to Grace. Grace is defined here for us as an ” undeserved privilege”. Mercy is God’s blessing to be spared a consequence we are due to get for an action on our part while Grace gives us freely a “gift” which we not only did not deserve but could never earn by our actions. Grace comes only through Jesus Christ.

That Grace moves us in our Faith, Paul says here in Verses 3-4, to develop Perseverance. James tells us that patience in ongoing trials forms Perseverance and Paul moves the conclusion of Perseverance here to ”strength of character” and Character to Hope. Character is our composite inside being, it is who we are when we are alone. It drives our Attitude about ourselves and others and that Attitude results in our Actions. Paul goes further to express to us that our development from Perseverance to Character to Hope is not empty but a ”confident hope of salvation” and that Hope will never disappoint us. This is a wonderful promise to All who run to win races every day to build and strengthen their Perseverance of Purpose that God has provided for each of us.

Matthew 10:42  (NLT)

⁴² And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”

We often think of “little” things as the simple things in life but God’s word tells us nothing could be further from the Truth. While it may seem simple to us it can be of great value to the person we are helping. The scripture tells us by providing simple things to those in need we will “ surely be rewarded” and we often think of a similar physical reward for our generosity. God’s plan may be a bit different with his larger view in the consideration of All things. If the value of our actions has an impact on someone’s life it may open a door for us to share bigger things with them like the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The simple actions we take can allow a conversation with someone that never would have trusted us for that discussion before. Our reward may be to share the gift of eternal life with them and our real reward just got doubled by adding a new friends name into God’s Book of Life and a new friend for eternity.

Isaiah 43:18-19 New King James Version (NKJV)

18 “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.

Isaiah appears to repeat himself in VS 18 until we dig into the translation. What the message communicates is not to get derailed by our recent past and also to let go of the failures in our distant past. The Hope and Encouragement that comes with the Power of God is that he is constantly working on us and preparing us for New and Better things in our lives and a final reminder that he has no limit to what he can do in our lives. He wants to take all the past of our lives and allow it to help us create a better future that he has planned for us.

Text: John 12:24 New Living Translation (NLT)

24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.

But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.

Life can sometimes bring us to a point utter frustration with the circumstances we find ourselves in. We often feel overwhelmed and buried by the burdens of being drained emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. The places our spirits go tend to be so dark and empty that we feel afraid and alone without any hope. John brings us a thought from God’s point of view supported by His promise, Hebrews 13:5 ….. I will never fail you , I will never leave you, to let us know that He is in control and this valley find ourselves in is actually the fertile soil God brings us to in preparing us to grow into the New Life and Creation he has in mind for our Purpose. May can often stop where we are in the confusion and noise of the struggle we are in and recognize that the dark place we are in is actually right where God needs us to be so he can prepare us to come forward as a more fruitful servant in His purpose for our lives.  

Hebrews 11:1 New Living Translation (NLT)

11 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

We don’t make a mess of our lives on purpose but we are only human and sometimes our choices and the associated consequences can put us in a difficult place in life.

When God decides to transform our lives many times he first has to get our attention and that may result in a trial of our Faith. How do we know God has allowed us to be in a difficult situation? Because the writer of Hebrews says clearly it is a marker of our Faith that our Hope be in a conclusion of our difficulty into something we cannot see in the middle of the trial that is better than where we are today. In the middle of the trials it can be a challenge to see the message, recognize a testimony and move out of the victim stage that is our human habit. Only a Faith in Gods power to change our lives and circumstances along with our willingness to apply our energy to change our lives can we become a living testimony of the Faith we Hope for and the brighter tomorrow we cannot see today.

Text. 2 Corinthians 12:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Sometimes God allows storms in our lives to get our focus off the things that have consumed our attention and back on Him. While he doesn’t calm the storm we must weather he provides us a peace of heart and mind that He is in control. It is difficult for us to slow down in a storm that we just want to go away but with God’s peace we can reflect the Love and Power of Jesus Christ so that the world sees Him in how we deal with the storms in our lives.

ISAIAH 55: 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
⁹ For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

¹⁰ “The rain and snow come down from the heavens
    and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
    producing seed for the farmer
    and bread for the hungry.
¹¹ It is the same with my word.
    I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
    and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

Today is a difficult and yet meaningful day for those of us that were witnesses of the terrorist attack on 9.11.2001. It leaves us as Christians with a huge gap in understanding why and what purpose it accomplished? We are now 17 years from that day and even with now knowing who committed the act and why they did it we are reminded that there are many groups and individuals that don’t agree with the Freedom and Faith that we are blessed with in this country.

God allows all types of markers in our lives to move us to stop and reflect on the marker and the meaning it had in our lives and how it has guided and changed our lives along the way. Many are enjoyable and happy occasions for us – birthdays, anniversaries, graduations ……. But some He allows are to help us remember that while we confess and know God is control of all things there are those that don’t believe in Him or share our Faith as Christians and it is only in staying close to him that we can prepare and deal with those markers when they come to our lives. On 9.11.2001 at 8:46 am a group of terrorist unbelievers created a marker for us that feels as heavy today as it did then as we watch the scenes replayed, which are only shown once a year on this day, so the marker of today can be appreciated for what it was an is in our lives. The second attack at 9:03 am was followed by one at the Pentagon and one finally diverted into a field in Pennsylvania. We can’t find the reason or logic in acts like this, but our Faith brings us to accept what we can’t understand as part of God’s plan and his promise that His ways and thoughts are far above ours and His Word would never return void and would always accomplish its purpose. With that promise we reflect on this marker and remember those that died that day and how the acts of godless people can affect our lives on that day and each day since. May God bless the families of those that died that day, and may Americans live to reflect God’s love and Faith in remembering this marker today.

Text: John 12:24 New Living Translation (NLT)

24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.

But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.

Life can sometimes bring us to a point utter frustration with the circumstances we find ourselves in. We often feel overwhelmed and buried by the burdens of being drained emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. The places our spirits go tend to be so dark and empty that we feel afraid and alone without any hope. John brings us a thought from God’s point of view supported by His promise to, Hebrews 13:5 ….. I will never fail you , I will never leave you,  to let us know that He is in control and this valley find ourselves in is actually the fertile soil God brings us to in preparing us to grow into the New Life and Creation he has in mind for our Purpose.  

Isaiah 43:1-2

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

The most powerful feeling in the freedom that comes with salvation in Jesus Christ is spending our eternal lives in Heaven with Him and those of our family and friends that were believers that have gone on before. The next greatest Joy is knowing that God has a plan and purpose for each of us while we are living in this life and we can find comfort that our day to day circumstances may not be what we would choose for ourselves but it may be right on time for God’s plan to prepare us how where he needs us to ne in the future.

John 10:9     (NKJV)

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

No picture is better for us to understand perseverance in life than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s plan of Salvation. We will go through many doors in our lives, some of them we open, some God provides and some change from closed to opened for us to fulfill our purpose in Life. Sin can cause us to take a wrong door that we created on our own and when God closes it to help us back on track with another open door we miss it by pouting and looking at the closed door with regret that we did not get what we wanted. Jesus tells us if we use him as our first door before entering others that we can go in and out of other doors and he will go with us and guide us.